My Merlin Awakening (25 page)

Matt didn’t say anything.

I said again, “You need to let me go.”

“I know,” he echoed.

I took another step back, easing away, bit-by-bit. My hair caught in his fingers. A slight tug and they would slip through.

“I’ll let you go. For now.”
Matt’s eyes locked on me with solemn promise.
“But soon, you will have to make a choice and I won’t make it easy.”

***

Two forty-four a.m. An excruciating minute past two forty-three a.m. I stared at the clock. I couldn’t sleep. The snake, the kiss, had released a Pandora’s box of emotions that now swirled inside me. Yet, something else nagged at me. Beside me, Gia took in deep breaths. Her countenance in sleep was easy and without worry.

With a jerk, I got up. Excalibur lay on a chair beside the bed. I picked it up. My hand wrapped around the hilt.

I shut my eyes.

My mind slowly replayed the images of the latest vision. I wandered down the tunnel again. I looked up at the long stalagmites, dripping with bits of water. I walked further and further into the dark. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the monster’s shadow. I froze. Fear clawed my throat. In a flash, he stood in front of me. His teeth opened, wide and menacing. His eyes glowed with hunger. His nostrils flared like a bull’s. On his bared chest, a bronze piercing mutilated a flat male nipple.

I don’t know what made me do it. I reached out and laid my palm on the monster’s heart. A red wound glowed just above my hand, a familiar spot on his chest, and a realization hit me.

I opened my eyes. I dropped Excalibur.

Vane
.

***

The morning came without mercy. I barely slept. A group of fifteen left the house early. Colin took us to the top of the cable car that carried us down the cliff to the port. When we got there, we found it broken. Plan B was donkeys. The hairy, not to mention smelly, creatures carried us down the steep steps of the cliff with more or less good behavior. I did feel sympathy for a handful of people who were walking down the six hundred or so steps. While it may have been more picturesque, I wouldn’t have wanted to do it, especially after I saw one tourist slip and slide into donkey doo. I could have sworn my donkey did his best to knock over as many people on the steps as possible in an effort to win some kind of donkey bowling trophy.

Ahead of me, Gia and Blake rode closely together. Gia’s sharp features softened every time she glanced at Blake. They laughed at some joke I couldn’t hear and when she wasn’t looking, I saw Blake watching her.

My eyes riveted on them, I almost fell when my donkey swerved in an attempt to clip another tourist. Vane caught my arm and hauled me back up. Then, without a word to me, urged his donkey ahead.

I stared after him. Half of me hoped whatever Excalibur had helped me unravel the previous night had been a middle-of-the-night hallucination, but I knew I wasn’t that lucky. I thought about saying something to Matt, but couldn’t make myself do it. He already distrusted Vane so much. I couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t freak out.

No.
I had to figure this out by myself. In the pit of my stomach, I knew time was not on my side.

The views of the red and green caldera stretched out before us. A morning mist crept up from the crystal waters of the Aegean through the winding streets of the white city. I tasted the fresh air on the sensitive bits of my tongue and took in a cleansing breath of sharp sea air, choosing to ignore the underlying stench of dung.

Once we reached the bottom, Colin led us to the boat on foot. The boat wasn’t a boat. It was a ninety-foot yacht, that looked big enough to hold fifty, not just the fifteen of us. Colin explained it actually handled only twelve people. I guess that meant I was sharing a bunk, not that I knew anyone who wanted to share with me at this point. I climbed up steps to the top of the boat, which was large, with an open canopy. Brown plastic planks made up the deck and led to a long, rectangular built-in seating area. A square table with heavy painted bolts stood in the middle

“Nice,” Gia said. Just beyond the seating area, a crystal blue pool invited us to shed our clothes.

Grey, Gia, and Blake plunked themselves down on the soft cushions without prompting. Colin, Matt and Vane ducked below deck to meet with the captain. Colin ordered the other gargoyles to stay with Grey on the upper deck.

“Your personal army, Your Highness,” Blake commented to him.

Grey’s face turned red. “Watch it, Emerson, or I’ll have you eviscerated.”

“As if you even know what it means,” Blake said.

Grey tried to punch him and almost fell when the boat started to pull out of the harbor. I watched as we taxied out to sea for a bit. The boat showed us incredible vistas of the cliffs of the caldera. Yet, it couldn’t hold my attention for long.

I went down to the second level. A luxurious living room with a cream leather sofa and a bar occupied most of the space. Clarence and the other wizards sat at a formal dining table tucked into one corner. I nodded to them and crossed to a small, open deck at the back of the boat.

I paused midway on the deck. Seated in another small version of the built-in seating area upstairs was Vane. His feet on the table, he leaned back on the cushions and watched the water. He had an open liquor bottle in his hand.

He smirked. “Dorothy. Can’t get enough of me?”

The glitter in his eyes told me to run. I decided to do the opposite. I waved at the water. “You’re drinking when we’re going to who-knows-what?”

One shoulder lifted and fell in a half-hearted shrug. “One spell and I’m sober… unfortunately.”

“How long will it take us to get there?”

“Six hours, they tell me.”

I walked to the railing and peered over. The boat moved steadily in the water. As soon as we crossed one of the smaller side islands from Santorini, the boat turned southwest. Open sea stretched out before us, inviting us to come deeper, faster.

I sighed. “Can’t this boat speed up?”

Behind me, I heard Vane’s boots hit the deck and I tensed. The hair at the back of my neck rose as he came up behind me. The deck had to be twenty feet long, but he chose my spot. His arms went around either side of me. His fingers curled around the railing, almost, but not quite touching mine. His body crowded mine, hulking behind me. Almost, but not quite touching.

“Eager, aren’t you?” His lips grazed the back of my ear. A finger traced the length of my spine from its base to my neck. “Does it call you?”

“No,” I said, more to him than to the question.

The finger paused at the base of my neck. “Do you know how easy it would be to toss you overboard? To give you to the sea? A creature such as you would be a bountiful sacrifice.”

His voice washed over me, heated with a threat and a caress. I shivered and it wasn’t from the cold. I twisted around to face him. “What are you doing, Vane? I thought you were done being in the middle.”

“I am done. I’m done waiting. I’m done being—”

“Easy?” I said dryly.

“Patient.” His lips curved up, but it was a cold smile. “It’s time to take.”

An odd glitter colored his eyes. The tiger was back and it wanted to play with me. I put my palm on his chest, right at the scar that hid under the folds of his thick shirt. I wanted to see the scar, but I definitely didn’t want to provoke him any further. Vane caught my wrist. He held it so tightly I thought the bone might fracture.

“No touching unless you’re offering a lot more,” he said.

“I’m not.” But I didn’t lower my hand.

His eyes hooded. “I stopped in the club. I won’t next time. I don’t care who might be watching. I won’t care if it displeases you.”

“You can’t displease me,” I said.

His lips thinned. “Are you trying to be
nice
?”

Before I could answer, he took a step forward and squeezed me back against the railing. It dug into my back. His fingers wrapped around my throat.

Hard lips slanted over mine. The kiss took pleasure and laced it with pain. I couldn’t have responded even if I wanted to. Vane didn’t give me the chance. Like a captured bird, he pinned me in place. When he finally lifted his head and released me, my lips stung. Swollen. My throat felt abused. Assaulted.

He traced a finger along my throbbing neck. “Still feel nice?”

“This isn’t y-you,” I croaked.

There was no emotion in his eyes. “It is now.”

Mine narrowed in response. “Fine.”

I kneed him as hard as I could in the groin.

He grunted in pain. I pushed him off me. He fell on his butt and blinked up at me with a befuddled expression.

My lips twisted in a small smile. “Now I am being nice.”

***

My body still shook three hours later. I sat in my bikini on the edge of a bed in one of the bedrooms on the bottom deck. I struggled to tug on a slippery-as-an-eel wetsuit. You had to squeeze into the thing through a cutout at the neck of the suit.

The door opened.

Gia came inside. “Are you alright in here? You’ve been putting on this wetsuit for an hour.”

I bent my head. Hair curtained my face.
No, I wasn’t okay. I wanted to kill him with my bare hands.

“I knew it. You’ve been pushing yourself too hard.” Gia walked closer and took the wetsuit from me. She knelt at my feet and commanded, “Legs.”

Legs.
I took a breath and put my legs into the rubber.

“Get up,” she said.

Get up.
I forced myself to stand.

She pulled the wetsuit over my hips. “Arms.”

I complied. The final piece was to pull on the over-the-head panel, pull the drawstring tight, and zip up a chest zipper to streamline everything in place. I lifted my hair to expose my nape.

Gia stopped in the mid-zip. “What happened to your neck?”

I glanced in the mirror on the wall above the head of the bed. Ugly bruises covered the skin.

“I’m fine.” I yanked the head panel over me and cinched up the suit.

“It was Vane, wasn’t it?” Gia said.

The dam of ice holding me together broke. I turned around and hugged her. I let out a noisy wail. “He hates me.”

She let me cry it out. When I finally quieted, she handed me a tissue. “I’m going to kill him.”

“No,” I shook my head. I told her about what I’d seen in the vision with Excalibur’s help. I ended by saying, “There’s something going on and I’m going to find out what.”

“Shouldn’t you tell Merlin?” Gia said.

“No, Matt doesn’t see straight when it comes to Vane. Anyway, he needs to concentrate on the trident.” I stood up. “I’m going to do this on my own.”

Gia looked at me. “No, you’re not. We’re Candidates. We stick together.”

I glanced at Excalibur. “We’re not Candidates anymore, Gia.”

“You’re wrong. We’ll always be Candidates as long as we have cause.” She put a hand on the underside of my forearm in an act of solidarity. “We’re family.”

Warmth seeped into my skin. The suit took whatever body heat I had and fed it back to me. However, this warmth had nothing to do with the suit. Family. I’d forgotten what an anchor it could be. My eyes stung once more. “Fine as long as you help me get out of the wetsuit.”

She frowned.

I smiled. “I forgot to use the bathroom first.”

She laughed. So did I. And for those few moments, we were normal.

***

A knock sounded at the door. Blake stepped inside. “Ladies, we’ll be there in half an hour. Were you planning on seeing this fun adventure through or having a slumber party?”

Gia and I lay on the bed with our wetsuits half on.

“Slumber party sounds like a better idea.” Gia stood up, giving Blake a nice view of her barely-there bikini top. I suppressed a smile when Blake’s pupils dilated. Gia didn’t react, but I noticed she took an extra long time pulling the neckpiece on and zipping up. She smoothed her hands over the wetsuit, which already clung to her curves like paint.

“I’ll be upstairs. Tell me if you change your mind about you-know-who. He would make a nice snack for the sharks.” She marched out of the room, brushing Blake lightly as she passed him.

Blake stared after her. “I hope she doesn’t mean me.”

I rose up on my elbows. “She likes you.”

Blake’s face turned beet red.

I asked the next obvious question, “Do you like her?”

His forehead wrinkled. “What about Grey?”

I raised a brow. “I think he has other things on his mind.”

“He’s my mate. I should ask him.”

“You do that,” I said.

Blake turned to leave.

“Just so you know, if you hurt her, I’ll Excalibur you.”

Blake grimaced. “I believe you.”

He left. I stared after them. They were my family. I couldn’t risk them for Vane. I was coming to the slow realization I might be doing just that by not telling Matt what Excalibur had shown me. I pushed myself up on the bed and pulled the wetsuit up to put my arms through.